Age: 58

Title: President and chief executive officer

Organization: Hawai'i's Better Business Bureau

High school: Mount Saint Mary Academy, Fall River, Mass.

College: Bachelor of arts in social science, Harvard University; master of education in educational communications, University of Hawai'i-Manoa.

Breakthrough job: Working for eight years at the Blood Bank of Hawai'i before leaving as vice president. "What I witnessed there was community leaders making incredibly tough ethical decisions," Deschene said. "I was so impressed by that."

Little-known fact: Deschene has skydived four times, the last with her husband on their 25th wedding anniversary. "It's really a rush," she said.

Major challenge: "With the bureau, it's continuing to make thoughtful decisions under the tremendous pressure of change," Deschene said. The biggest change involves technological advances, which have created another category of concern. "People think they can shop on the Net," she said, "but we're telling them to be careful."

Book recently read: "The Whiteness of Bones" by Susanna Moore.

Hobbies: Already a guitarist, Deschene took up the 'ukulele a month ago because of her love for Hawaiian music. She also paints with watercolors.

Mentor: Deschene doesn't have just one. "I really try to learn from everybody I meet," she said. "I find it hard to focus on one because there are so many successful people in their own realm."

Q. For decades, the Better Business Bureau has promoted ethical relations between business and consumers. What have been the more notable changes to the organization?

A. I think we've taken on more of what our original mission was and that is to work with businesses on making practices better. That's kind of been forgotten. A lot of times people think we're just a consumer advocate, but we're working with businesses on how to prevent complaints, to focus on customer service. We don't think that was a focus before.

Q. How important has educating the public been to the bureau?

A. I think we've done a good job with education. We've been able to secure some private funding to run our senior education program and our senior scam hot line. That's outside what the (national) bureau is doing. We're targeting a specialized market, so that's new.

Q. Car dealers, wireless phone companies and Internet retailers topped the list of complaints by consumers in 2003. Does any particular industry shine?

A. Everyone has lapses. You're not in business without problems, that's the nature of business. But I've been really surprised and delighted by the hospitality industry. Given what they go through and the volume they deal with, they have amazing training and consistency. And they handle complaints well. They want to make it right with their customers. They tend to go out of their way to make it right. That's unique.

Q. Have consumers changed?

A. I think consumers are getting really savvy, more than ever. An example might be the airlines. People might do all kinds of research online before they go to a travel agent. They're really akamai. They know what to expect; you can't pull the wool over their eyes. They don't want to be taken advantage of. But then they're quick to complain, too. They're more articulate about what they expect and they make it known.

Q. With added competition for people's time and money, has customer service risen to the top of priorities for businesses?

A. I think that's the answer. I think most people have given up the idea that price is a deciding factor. More and more we're hearing from people that (customer service) is more important than price. That's very telling.

Q. What's been a common misconception about the Better Business Bureau?

A. The biggest one is that we're government-funded. We're not. We're totally funded by our members. And the other is we only do consumer advocacy. That's not the case. We do business advocacy as well. We're on both sides of the table. We're trying to make the transactions work.

Q. Identity theft is on the rise nationally and locally. Any advice to consumers?

A. It's the highest rising crime in Hawai'i, so we're happy to talk about it. ... Generically, never give out your personal information to somebody you don't know and don't give them access to it. That covers all the sins: telemarketers who call, phony mail that comes. That's the best advice.

Q. The Torch Awards for Business Ethics returned two years ago after a hiatus. How important is recognizing businesses that live up to high ethical standards?

A. I think it's never done enough. We had more than 250,000 contacts with consumers last year but only 10 compliment letters. We could probably do better than that. Businesses do it right every single day, most of them, yet they're not recognized ... You don't want to just focus on the bad. Anyone can do it badly. This (award) points out the people who we don't notice much, the people who do it well.

Q. What are qualities every leader should possess?

A. Listening is the key because you can get ideas from everywhere. And you can't think you have all the answers. You're not going to get a whole lot of people who'd want to follow you. You have to have a palatable vision. And humor. After all, this is about people.